Skinsaw Murders: Scarecrows (spoilers)


Rise of the Runelords

Silver Crusade

So my group just played the walking scarecrows chapter last session, or part of it anyway. They had just leveled up to 5th level right before the session.

The group went straight to the Hambley farmhouse and barn, and only met one "walking" scarecrow along the way (and I believe two normal scarecrows). They defeated the enemies at the farmhouse and barn, and now they want to continue to Foxglove Manor immediately, since they figured out what "The Misgivings" was from their visit to the sanitorium.

So I have two problems with this, as a GM:

1. That means they're leaving a dozen "walking" scarecrows in the field at the Hambley Farm. That could come back to bite them (or the townsfolk) later. Pun intended.

2. I prefer having them level up during logical breaks in the adventure, so I want them to be level 6 before they even enter Foxglove Manor, but they were only level 5 for one relatively short session. Killing a ghast and 7 ghouls shouldn't really be enough to earn a level at this point, but I'm having them level up based on the where the adventure says they should be, not xp, so I could force it, I guess.

So what I'm really looking for is an excuse to force them stick around the Hambley Farm and do a thorough job finding all those ghouls before moving on to Foxglove Manor. Or at least SOMETHING to justify having them level up to 6th level so quickly, since I would feel bad kinda railroading the adventure that way.

Maybe I'll just through in a "random" encounter between the Hambley Farm and Foxglove Manor to have them fight more ghouls to make up for some that they skipped in the corn field. And still have some of the remaining scarecrows come back to haunt Sandpoint and the other farms in the area later.

Thoughts?


I say use the random encounter idea. Throw the remaining number of ghouls they missed against them. Since they didn't do a thorough job exploring, start feeding them rumors of ghoul attacks still happening later and see if they'll go back to clear the area.


Throw in some side trek:

--> Boggards in Brinestump Marsh
--> Chopper's Isle might do the trick

Head over to dorkistan.com to grab them; Chopper's also appeared in WF #7 if my memory serves right.

Ruyan.

Silver Crusade

Yeah, I'll probably just have them encounter some more of the ghouls as a random encounter while heading to Foxglove Manor, then level up to 6th after fighting them.

RuyanVe, they're already down at the Hambley Farm, heading for nearby Foxglove Manor. The geographic convenience is part of why they just want to keep moving on in that direction, so I don't think they'd accept any side trek without a really good reason. And especially going back to Sandpoint for Chopper's Isle is out.


Fair enough.

Might still fabricate the Brinestump side trek--it's set off by encountering a down&out Shalelu...

Ruyan.

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